Project 333: 3 Months - End of Cycle Update

I have now completed a whole 3-month cycle with the Project 333 Challenge. It was an interesting journey of downsizing my wardrobe to only 33 pieces of clothes, notwithstanding underwear, socks, sleeping and sporting-only gear. You can follow along with my journey from these prior posts: The Beginning, Week 1 Update & Week 3 Update.

It has been an educational experience in that it shows me I don't actually need that many clothes. To be honest, I can't even remember most of my other clothes that I had put into storage. This brings to mind that often times we just end up getting more and more then hoarding it.

That isn't to say this wasn't also a challenging experience. With the premise of Project 333 as having only 33 pieces of clothes for 3 months, I learned that I need a bit more thoughtfulness on what those pieces should be. Running out of a certain type of clothes is a very real experience that has challenged me to be more forward thinking in terms of weather and activities throughout the week and taking stock of what I currently have.

Will I be continuing on this Project 333 challenge? Of course. I will be continuing on with the present set of clothes till the end of the summer season, then align my Project 333 closet with seasonal changes.

So the take-aways from this experience:

1. I don't need that many clothes in life and life is a lot more simple when you have fewer pieces to pick from in the morning.


2. In order for the simplicity of having less to pick from in the morning to work well, you need to plan ahead in life. Dressing becomes more of an intentional activity in life and less of a throw-it-on-and-go.


3. With less clothes comes the possibility of freeing up more space in the house and having less clutter.


4. Although having less is great, it means more frequent loads of laundry. But at least the folding part becomes a bit quicker and the machine is less likely to be overloaded.

Overall, I think Project 333 is a definite recommendation for anyone looking to simplify life and being more intentional in how they live.

Project 333: Week 3 Update

It has now been three complete weeks since I started on this journey of Project 333. For those that aren't sure what I am talking about, you can catch up HERE for the original post and HERE for the Week 1 Update.


As noted during my Project 333 Week 1 Update, it seems to be easy-peasy and I noted that I may need to start planning ahead a bit so as to prevent running out of clothes when I need it. However, it seems like I did not take my own advice or more to the point I did not follow through on it. So to the point, this past weekend, I did run out of appropriate clothing.
So what happened? Well, apparently after Week 1, I had washed clothes and was able to essentially reset for the start of Week 2 however I ended up needing to do laundry a bit early during Week 2. Originally I thought this would be alright since it kind of reset the laundry schedule anyway but it was actually not the case. I actually ended up not doing laundry again until yesterday night which essentially meant I ran a few days longer than anticipated. And this was coupled with the fact that it was a relatively hot week and I had needed to change more often due to sweat and working on the yard. This seemed to deplete the clothing stock quite a bit. So by the time the weekend rolled around, all I had were collar shirts. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing except for that fact that the laundry basket last night when I had needed to wash it was actually only about 3/4 full. The only reason a wash was needed was because I had only one polo left for today and if I didn't wash last night or today then I would actually really run out of clean clothes.So now, looking back, the lesson is a need for more thoughtfulness of my schedule and also weather and potential activities for the week. In essence, I need to plan ahead a bit on my outfits and when I need to wash stuff. Which this kind of runs into the question of whether I should wash based on a weekly schedule (which is generally how long it takes to fill a basket) or more along the line of just whenever I seem to be running low on clothes (which could potentially mean more frequent washing). Anyhow, I will be seeing how this coming week goes as I will have three days in a row where I will be having different and more professional engagements that I haven't had in the past few weeks.

Project 333: Week 1 Update

So it has been a whole week since I started on this journey of Project 333. For those that aren't sure what I am talking about, you can catch up: HERE.

Anyhow, it has been an interesting start. For this first week, it started off with a Bang!, everything was easy-peasy. The first few days didn't really yield any need for decision making as I just threw on the first T-shirt and jeans in the drawer. However, I did notice that as the week went by, that I was starting to having a limited number of choices of what to wear. And then came the weekend, this was where it got interesting, I ran out of T-shirts. So my decision is now on whether I want a polo or button-down short sleeve. Either way, this was when I realized that I can't just start throwing clothes on each day without thinking ahead of the week to come. So now, as I enter into the 2nd week, I have a done laundry and have a fresh set of clothes again and I have come to the realization that I may need to start planning a bit based on my calendar and events so as to not end up using something that I may need later. Either way, this experiment has been interesting to say the less and I think as I get a better handle on it I may start lowering the limit.

So till next time. Enjoy.

Intro: Project 333

For those that didn't know, I am a stickler for optimization. I love to work with systems and try to improve upon them. And another thing that I have been known for is attempting to live a minimalist life style. I will admit that it has not always worked in all areas of my life as I am also a pack-rat and apparently having kids throw part of that lifestyle out the window. I am one of those individuals that have things still in boxes from grade-school. Not that I still have much sentimental value to it but rather I just don't like throwing away stuff. And clothes has been one of those areas of my life that I have been very bad with. I have lots of clothes but in the past couple years I have noticed that I am normally cycling through only a few things that I prefer or like or feel matched well together or with me. To be honest, I have clothes from my elementary and high school days. They may not all fit properly. They are rather snug and quite a bit worn over the years. But the fact is I don't throw much out or better yet donate them like I should to someone that needs it more than I do.

Anyhow, recently I run into a site that was promoting a Project 333 Challenge. The premise of the challenge is that over the course of 3 months, you are only allowed to have 33 pieces of clothing items excluding gym-wear, sleep-wear, house-wear and underwear. So essentially it is 33 piece of clothing or accessories that you would wear when you are out doing life, whether just out for chores, work or leisure. And at the end of 3 months (season), you switch it out for seasonal things. Anyhow, I decided to take the plunge. I took the effort with the help of my wife to par down my clothes to 33 items. These are items that will serve for me when I work either in a more formal setting as a clergy or in the more informal setting of leading, teaching and mentoring and it will also allow me to professionally meet with professionals, officials and representatives of other organizations, government and companies. Also, these will be pieces that will serve for more casual days out with the kids and family. So it needs to be pretty versatile set of 33 pieces. Anyhow, it took about an hours but I feel I have it down.

Here is the list of things I have choose:
2 Polo shirts
2 Long sleeves button down shirts
3 Short sleeves button down shirts
1 Blazer
1 Long sleeves t-shirt
6 T-shirts
2 Blue jeans
1 Dress pants
1 Khaki pants
1 Cargo shorts
4 Pairs of shoes
2 Jackets
1 Zip-up hoodie
2 Track jackets
2 Belts (dress & casual)
1 Pair of flipflop
1 Baseball cap

Anyhow, wish me luck. I will keep everyone posted on how it goes and if I need to make any switching out of items midway through the 3 months cycle. It is my hope that this will help me filter out the used from the unused so that I can give away the ones I don't use to someone that would use it.

If you want more info about the challenge you can google up Project 333 or go here to this site: http://bemorewithless.com/project-333/